“We continue to build our national footprint and strengthen the excellence of our Forensic team.”

2011 was yet another exciting year of growth for the McGrathNicol Forensic team. In February 2011, we welcomed Matt Fehon as our third Forensic Partner in Sydney and more recently announced that Mike Shanahan and Darren Michael would be leading our Perth team from January 2012.

We now have seven dedicated Forensic Partners and more than 30 senior staff across the country and will continue to grow our team to meet the increasingly complex needs of our clients.

2011 also saw the conclusion of two long running client matters which were widely followed in the press for their impacts on the Australian business community:

+         A three and a half year role as advisors to one of the Defendants in Australia’s largest price-fixing class action ended in April 2011. However, the resolution of this matter before trial leaves a number of questions unanswered in relation to the assessment of damages and in particular whether a “pass through” defence is appropriate in quantifying loss and damage.

+         The outcome of our role as independent accounting expert for the Directors of Timbercorp in their defence of an investor class action will likely prove significant to many other Managed Investment Schemes and other potential investor class actions. Our clients were successful in having the action dismissed, having proved that the Plaintiff did not rely upon the Product Disclosure Statement.

During 2011, our regular Positive Outcomes articles continued to gather a significant following with clients and it is pleasing to see that the forensic skill set is increasingly being valued by Boards of Directors, General Counsel, CEO’s and CFO’s.

Through Positive Outcomes we have been able to share with you some of the trends and interesting experiences we have encountered during the last 12 months.  A summary of these can be found in our Year in Review 2011 whilst the full articles can be read by clicking here. I do hope you have found these of benefit in your own roles and organisations.

We thank you for your support during the year and look forward to working with you in 2012.